Goonies Go Kablooey

According to co-frontman Langston
Masingale, who goes by the stage name Illumination and shares the mike
with Peter Cappelli’s alter ego, Clam Wheezy, the breakup was largely
connected to the exit of drummer Elizabeth Strodel. “I have no clue why
Liz quit this band,” Masingale explains. “This band has done a lot of
things for her, and it’s not like distant memories: It’s like last
month.”

Strodel, who also performs with the
local blues group The Delinquents (Cappelli serves as that group’s
bassist), assures that her reasons for leaving were mostly tied to her
long-range plans to leave the area in the coming year. She claims to
still have great respect for the Goonies, which initially formed in
2004. “I’ve been playing in bands around town since I was 18 {Strodel
was the drummer for the now-defunct Star Case in 2003}, and two bands
is a lot,” she says. “I do some other things on the side, and it’s a
lot to do at once. I think if you’re going to do something you’ve got
to be 100 percent into it, and I’m thinking about moving. It’s time for
a change for me, and I just didn’t want to hold {the Goonies} back.”

Strodel also divulged that the turmoil
wasn’t helped by Masingale firing bassist Chris Costello, which led to
fraternal guitarists Thomas and Jon Copich to also leave the outfit. In
the interim Masingale hired a temporary keyboardist {Masingale wouldn’t
share his name} to add to the group’s sound, a decision which
ultimately didn’t work out.

Goonies with the wind: Peter Cappelli,
aka Clam Wheezy (left), and Langston Masingale or Illumination, both
frontmen of The Goonies, are looking for new members after a band
breakup. MATT MUMAU PHOTO

The band’s drama meter then went code
red when a dispute fired up in December with their newly hired manager,
Paula Pickreign of Reign Management and Promotions, an Oswego-based
company run by the SUNY Oswego music student. According to Masingale,
Pickreign was hired to book gigs for the Goonies in addition to
handling promotional chores. Masingale signed a six-month contract with
Pickreign’s services, for which the band was to pay $350 per month
through April, but Masingale was unhappy with how she handled her
duties, and they have since attempted to fire Pickreign. Two months’
payment on the contract have been fulfilled. 

“She got fired, because she wasn’t managing us,” Masingale laments. “You know how this band was last year: We couldn’t stay out
of clubs. I was the one who managed the band. {Pickreign} took no calls
from venues who wanted to book us, and she didn’t return calls from
businesses that wanted to consult with us about gigs in Hanover Square.”

Pickreign begs to differ. “I don’t act
as a booking agent: I manage. So they got confused or something. I
really don’t know where their heads were with that. I was busy working
on drumming up brand new electronic press kits, and getting them
airplay {on radio stations} and things like that. They were wondering
why I wasn’t booking shows, although we had a conversation about that,
and we continued on with our business relationship.”

Pickreign, who would not share the names
of other bands that she helps manage, intends to take the Goonies to
court if the two parties are unable to settle their dispute among
themselves. “They are not living up to the requirements in the contract
that they signed. It’s a legal contract, so if that’s the way business
has to work, then that’s how business has to work,” says Pickreign.

Legal and financial matters aside,
however, Masingale and Cappelli hope to re-form the band, as well as to
continue to record an independent album this summer. In fact, while the
band has come to be associated with the live group that supported the
hip-hopping frontmen, its origins are rooted solely in the dynamic duo
itself.

{mospagebreak} 

Cappelli notes that part of the
frustration he had with his former bandmates was a difficulty in
getting everyone on the same page in terms of rehearsals. “I’m sick of
competing with video games and pitch games to play band practice,” says
Cappelli. “We’re going to try out new players. It’s back to the basics
for me and Langston. The problems we’ve had have split our energy and
even our relationships; everyone who says what they’re going to be
turns out to be something else.”

Regardless, Cappelli claims, “I’m
positive about everything that’s going on right now. My whole
perspective is that it’s a lot of work, and my whole idea of this band
right now is I want to focus on being a rapper. I won’t have to worry
about anything else. The musicians we’re planning to hire now go above
and beyond their role to just be responsible for their practicing and
for their showing up. I want them to know the parts and be authentic to
the process so that I can really work on my skills.”

“I guess it’s a continuous journey,
trying to refine the sound a little bit and staying consistent and
current. I think this break will do things for us locally, with such a
big gap in us playing. It’s only January, but it’s going to take a bit
to get {new} guys in shape, but better players is what we need,”
Masingale states.